Platonic Solids: beautiful generative art

In this project we explore three-dimensional subdivision algorithms. These have traditionally been used in computer graphics to produce smooth, rounded forms from coarse polygons. By modifying and expanding these established algorithms to include additional weights, one can generate forms with entirely different attributes. By varying the process' parameters, we are able to affect a form's topography, its curvature, its degree of branching, and on a further level its surface attributes. We recursively apply the subdivision process to a source form, which we restrict to one of the five platonic solids. These basic forms allow us to concentrate entirely on the scope of output inherent in the single generative process.

Many of the forms produced by our subdivision process appear plant-like and resemble organisms. Some have similarities with radiolaria depicted in Ernst Häckel's Kunstformen der Natur. Different combinations of parameters, however, produce entirely new forms unlike those seen in nature. In both cases the forms' geometric complexity is produced by an extremely simple and transparent process. The forms are thus entirely traceable and malleable.